Eastern Washington University; Get Lit!

Eastern Washington University’s Get Lit! Programs engages members of the Inland Northwest community in a celebration of the written word by encouraging discussion, at all age levels, of literature in its many forms. The Get Lit! Festival is an annual celebration of reading, writing, and storytelling. The weeklong festival includes readings, interviews, workshops, panel discussions, poetry slams, writing contests, and more. With as many as 10,000 people attending from Spokane and the surrounding region each April, the festival has become an integral part of the artistic and cultural landscape of the Inland Northwest each April. Plus our on-going educational outreach programs—Authors Tour, Writers-in-Residence, and Poetry Out Loud—reach more than 5,000 students annually. We target low-income, rural, and alternative schools to help develop literacy, engage students in discussions around literature, and encourage students to think critically and creatively about our world. As one sixth-grade student put it, Get Lit! Programs “helps your mind grow.”